FORT LAUDERDALE — In my February 18 column, I wrote about the Florida Competitive Workforce Act, a bill currently making its way through the Tallahassee legislature that would help create a non-discriminatory workplace for LGBT employees across the state. The column also dealt with the important role of organized labor in both the effort to get the bill passed as well as within the general discourse about competitiveness itself.
Now a new study has been issued by the smart folks at Equality Means Business and consulting firm Thinkspot that breaks down the actual dollars and cents of how a lack of diversity in Florida is a major negative for companies trying to grow both their talent pool and bottom line.
So I got my hands on the executive summary of the report, The Link Between Economic Competitiveness And Workplace Equal Opportunity in Florida, and provide the essence of those findings for you here.
Before I begin, however, let me be clear that I no longer buy the traditional, Adam Smith-inspired theory of free markets, where the invisible hand creates the most efficient economic system through supply and demand absent any intervention in the economy by a big, bad government (which, of course, in a democracy or republic like ours is “we the people”). Government has a vital role through fiscal incentives, sector subsidies and industry regulation in maintaining a social safety net, providing public goods, encouraging a healthy middle class and enforcing economic justice.
But I digress. The key finding of the analysis is that according to published research and interviews with a number of top-level executives themselves, the legal landscape in Florida is currently having a negative impact on the ability of businesses, large and small, to attract and retain LGBT workers.
The headline number from the report is $362 million, which is a total calculated from all the costs associated with discrimination in the workplace, including lost productivity, employee turnover, missed business opportunities as well as erosion of customer and brand loyalty within a particular industry or geographical location, such as a city, state or even globally. (The most famous examples are probably Nike and Apple, which were brought to task over the working conditions of their Asian supply chains.)
These costs are especially pronounced, the report found, when businesses are trying to compete for the attention of younger workers and customers, the so-called millennial generation, who want their community values reflected at work.
In terms of U.S. competitiveness, a lack of national legislation to protect LGBT employees in the workplace further heightens competition among and between states when trying to advance economic development. The report uncovered that a lack of protection for LGBT people in Florida is in “stark contrast” to protection afforded these workers in high-equality states like Hawaii, California, Oregon and New Mexico, among others.
The authors of the report also discovered that Florida employers who made a significant effort to implement internal policies to create a more inclusive work environment were often undercut by inaction or regressive government action at the state and local levels. They cited an absence of “cultural intelligence” that put employers at a disadvantage relative to industry peers or global partners.
But the findings were not all bad. Some Florida cities received high marks when it came to promoting LGBT inclusion in their own backyard. A look at the top three localities is not entirely surprising: Orlando, St. Petersburg and Wilton Manors, with an honorable mention going to Tampa.
While the research and interviews were conducted with participants representing various sectors, from manufacturing and medical services to emerging tech, the impact of not having tough, non-discrimination protections in place legally were most felt in critical, Florida-centric industries such as hospitality, travel and tourism, which of course is a huge job creator and source of tax revenue for South Florida especially.
Given the importance of job creation after one of the most devastating recessions in U.S. history, a whopping 75 percent of the respondents said they were planning to expand their businesses in the next 36 months. Because major, capital investment decisions are often made months if not years in advance, now that marriage equality has arrived in Florida, dragging one’s feet on promoting workplace diversity and inclusion during the current legislative session is borderline reckless, irresponsible and negligent.
